Method of producing alloys or compounds of titanium and copper.



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Isanoa LADOFF, or CLEVELAND, OHIO, ssIGNoR; BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, or THIRTY onanunnau rns To WALTER 1). EDMONDS, or BOONVILLE, roan.

METHOD OF PRODUCING ALLOYS OR COMPOUNDS OF TITANIUM AND COPPER.

No Drawing".

Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Uhio, have 'invented certain'new and useful Improvements in -Metl1'0ds for Producing Alloys or Compounds of Titaninth and Copper, of which the following is a specification.

Alloys or compounds of metals whose chemical properties are the most dissimilar are often the most useful in the arts on account of their idiosyncratic properties rendering them comparable to new elements. Such products are, however, the most difiicult to produce. Heretofore such alloysor compounds have been produced principally in one of the two following ways, viz :The metals have been melted together in certain proportions at requisite-high temperature. It will be observed that by this process in certain cases extremely'high temperatures are required-as, for instance, Where alloys with titanium are. involved. Also, that in certain cases the proportions of the respective metals in the resulting product are limited. Another process of production'has been to mix the metals together in powdered. state and apply thereto a pressure .sufdciently high to effect the production of a resultant alloy at ordinary temperature.

The high pressure'method last referred to is preferable to the high temperature method above described because avoiding the aforesaid limitation as to proportions of the respective metals in the resulting product and also avoiding o'vidation and volatiliZation in the case of certai'n metals such as copper, occlusion of gases, 'etc., often characteristic of the molten metal method.

But the pressure method, on the other hand, is too expensive for application: on an industrial scale.

The object of my present invention is to provide a more economical. certain, safe, and universal method of producing specifically the alloy of titanium with copper hitherto I believe produced with great, if not prohibitory, difiiculties attributable to the. wide difference in properties of the respective metals intheir oxygenated as well as in their metallic state, the highly refractory character, otthe oxid of titanium, its comparatively enormous heat of formation, and the extremely high melting point of that Specification of Letters Patent,

metal being well known, likewise the instability, in the atmosphere, of molten copper, the formation of alloys of these metals by the molten method presentingtherefore exceptional. difliculties, and their production by thecompression method being also at present diiiicult if not impossible owing to the hitherto difiiculty, if not impossibility,

of procuring metallic titanium in sufiicient quantity or at such cost as to justify manufacture industrially of said alloys so produced.

My researches have enabled me to, attain myobject by the process and method of production. hereinafter described. Such researches have demonstrated that the alloy of I Patented Got. 29, 1912. Application filed February 27,1912. Serial No. 680,337.

copper with titanium or an-alloy comprising in substantial amounts copper .and titanium may be produced ata temperaturebelow'the -melting point of the alloying metals provided the oxids'o-f the metals, preferably suitably powdered and' mixed, are, in the presence of a reducing agent, or, so to speak,

In a reducing atmosphere, raised to a temperature sufliciently high to inaugurate the reduction of the'oxid of one of the metals, in this instance the (mid of copper, thus utilizing the catalytic action of the oxids in process of reduction, with the further result that the pure metals, 6.. copper and titanium, being brought into eacho-thers presence in their nascent state, are susceptible of alloying or compounding with each other in proportio'nswhichl believe to be unprecedented in former processes-as for instance the above referred to molten metal method.

My novel process may, generally speaking, be practised as follows, viz: Oxid of titanium, say rutile, TiO is preferably preliminarily reduced to powdered state. 'Oxid of copper, preferably cupric oxid. (CuO) is, preferably, likewise reduced to similar condition, and the two powdered oxids are then preferably thoroughly mixed together in and charged into molds of any desired form or proportions, and therein subjected to a pressure'sufiicient to impart coherence to the mass.

The-oxids thus'brought into, each others presence are then, at a temperature of say from 600 C. to 800 0., and while excluded from air, as in an ordinary gas furnace, sub jected to the action of a reducing agent,'

The

in powderedcoke. The temperatures referred to are then maintained in the furnaceuntil the oxids are reduced, the. resulting metallic product being an alloy of copper with titanium. It will be observed that by my said process the reduction of the oxid of titanium and the production of the resulting alloy or compound of titanium and'copper has been accomplished at temperatures immensely below those heretofore-regarded as indispensable for such results and that thus, incidentally also, the' electric furnace, or aluminum as a reducing agent, may be dispensed with in reducing such a refractory oxid as that of titanium, and in producing its combination with copper'in metallic form. Also the temperatures employed, being below the melting point of copper, obviate risks incident to the undesirable behaviors of that metal when in molten state, tosay nothing of the difliculties to be expected when copper is subjected to the temperatures required to melt titanium. Those skilled in the metallurgical art will of course understand that it is desirable after the aforesaid reduction to continue exclusion of air from the product until it has been cooled down sufliciently to avoid undue oxidation from the atmosphere. It will also be understood that a so-called gas furnace is not essential to securing the required react-ions since these may be produced as aforesaid on any scale and in any apparatus or inclosure capable of imparting the requisite temperature. and meanwhile excluding access of oxygen, as-in the atmosphere, to the charge. Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is the following, Viz z 1. The method of producing an alloyof copper and titanium which comprises subjectingthe coasse'mbled oxids of copper and titanium, in a reducing atmosphere, to temperature below the melting point of copper but sufliciently high to inaugurate, and

maintaining such temperature sufliciently long toinsure, reduction of said oxids.

2'. The method of producing analloy of copper and titanium which comprises heating coassembled oxid of'copper and oxid of titanium, in a reducing atmosphere, sumciently long, and at temperature sufiiciently 7 high, to reduce said oxids without melting the resulting metals.

3. The'met-hod of producing an alloy of copper and titanium which comprises heating coassembled oxid of copper and oxid of titanium, together with carbon, sufliciently long, and at temperature sufliciently high,

toreduce said oxids without melting the sufiiciently high to insure reduction of the oxid of copper by said agent.

'5. The anetallurgical method'wh1ch com prises bringing oxid of copper and oxid of titanium into presence of carbon monoxid and subjecting them to temperatures below the melting points, of saidmetals but suiticiently high to insure reduction of the oxid of copper by said carbon monoxid.

' 6. The method of producing an' alloy or compound of copper. and titanium which comprises subjecting the coass'embled oxids of copper and titanium, in a reducing atmosphere, to temperatures of from 600 degrees to 800 degrees cent'igrad'eand maintaining such temperatures suificlentl-y long to insure reduction of "said oxids.

.7. The method of producing an alloy or compound of copperwith titanium which comprises subjecting the coassembled oxid of copper and oxid of titanium together -with carbon to temperatures of from 600 to 800 degrees centigrade and maintaining such temperatures sufiiciently longto insure reduction of saidoxids.

ISADOR LADOFF. Witnesses H. McKoUcH,

C. N. SMITH. 

